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ska's 28gal macro algae display


skabooya

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Hello all,

 

I havent been updating my last thread and Ive been super busy since my dad passed away, and then my grandpa, and then I had a baby, and then my uncle died, and my grandmas been sick, etc. All within a 2 year span.

 

Here was my last thead on this forum: http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...64741&st=20

 

But since I noticed this macroalgae section, I figure I will post here.

 

The tank is almost 2 years old and It did have some macro algae already in it but I just recieved another shipment of more macro today so the following pictures may be a bit cloudy.

FTS

July2011.jpg

 

Tiger Striped serpent starfish (hitch hiker)

Tigerstripedserpentstarjuly2011.jpg

 

Sargassum

sargassumjuly2011.jpg

 

Red feather

redfeatherjuly2011.jpg

 

Red calciferous (unknown)

redcalciumjuly2011.jpg

 

Botryocladia (Red bubble)

redbubblejuly2011.jpg

 

Red mushroom (hitch hiker)

redmushroomjuly.jpg

 

Halmedia optuna

halymediamoneyplantjuly2011.jpg

 

Codium

codiumjuly2011.jpg

 

Calpura Profilera

calpuraprofilerajuly2011.jpg

 

Other macro algaes are 2 types of halymenia (one is dragons breath), green grape calpura, cheato, some kind of red algae I couldnt identify but I never really tried either, bubble algae, and another type of red bubble algae different to the one I have in the picture above.

For corals I have: rics, mushrooms, zoas, candycane, frogspawn, neon green sinularia

 

There is also an unknown coral but i think its a small xenia frag that came as a hitch hiker on my new macro. Also a bunch of feather dusters, brittle stars, and some snails as well as 2 blue leg hermit crabs.

 

My tank is topped off with tap water. I store my TO water in 1 gal milk jugs and after much experimenting I am now putting additives into the jugs. 1 capful of Iron, 1cap of trace, 1 cap amino acids, 6 drops iodine (this one is new), 1/4 tsp KNO3, 1/2 tsp Ca, 1tsp Baking soda, 1 pinch KH2PO4.

Tank dimensions: 28gal 36x12x15"

4x39T5HO (2xati blue plus, 2x aquablue special) 2x Hagen glo fixtures Running 10hours/day

Tunze 9002 skimmer running 8 hours/day

Daily feeding for 2 false percs

Weekly feeding for corals (coral snow, reef roids, coral frenzy)

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Dang those are awesome Ska! Sweet hitch hikers too! I'm jealous! :happy: You may want to put the sargassum as close to the lights as possible. They like high light and yours may need a bit of time to recoup. Don't give up on them though. It looks like you got some attached to a rock. Even if all the leaves fall out, don't throw it away. Give it time and it should bounce back. Give it lots of time LOL.

 

Hey btw, is the "Ska" in your moniker a reference to the type of music or is it just a coincidental thing?

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Thank you :D Im pretty excited about what I recieved. I thought my tank didnt look too bad before.. just a bit sparse because of the die off I had a few months ago with my green water issue. But it was bouncing back quite well. Now its just... wow. Im so excited. I hope everything thrives. And yes I was very lucky with my hitch hikers. The guys from JLA said that softies do hitch along quite often with their macro so they werent surprised. However, the starfish was a surprise. He said that they sell those for $10 a piece and he would have to give his team a little talking to for not paying attention to that one lol.

 

The name "Ska" is a total coincidence. When 'BOOYA' was in my husband decided to be silly and said SKABOOYA so, I just used it as my online forum name and its been like that for years and years. lol.

 

The sargassum has a holdfast but it seems it was ripped off from its rock. Its a pretty weighty holdfast so I just shoved it in a hole in the rock. Its staying put for now. I could put it higher up on the rock. Its about a 2 inch difference. I need to see if there is a hole there. The flow is also a lot more up there too so im a little afraid of the sargassum blowing away.

Also, I need spots nice and high for your gorgonia frags too :)

 

Thanks for the sargassum advice. I will give it lots of time. As much as it needs... or until It melts away to nothing.

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With the sargassum, next time what you can do is superglue the bottom of the hold fast to the rock instead. Though you should try and leave the edges of the holdfast free of glue if you can. Superglue will cure underwater as well (at least in my experience). Just hold it down gently with your fingers for a good 1 minute and it'll take. I also like to leave the holdfast exposed to some amount of light if there's few or no leaves. Not sure why but I think it helps as additional surface to photosynthesize. I recommend using the LOCTITE brand of superglue. You can buy them at Homedepot, Lowes or Rona. See here:

 

http://www.rona.ca/shop/~super-glue-loctit...4198_paint_shop

 

In terms of flow, I can't say if it'll help or hinder sargassum growth. I'd worry about it being blown away too, but that's about it.

 

About the gorgs, :mellow: , I don't think I should send them V, most (who participated) seem to think they won't survive. If not the darkness, then all the shaking from the shipping may kill them. See my discussion/ poll here:

 

http://www.nano-reef.com/forums/index.php?...e=show&st=0

 

Other than that, you should post PICHARS MOAR often! LOL. :lol:

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LOL. Alright then no worries about the gorgs. Better that they survive.

I do have some superglue gel that i use for some of my corals so I will glue it onto a piece of rubble and hope for the best :)

 

Pictures you want more? MOAR PICHARS!

 

So, last night I got curious and decided to look at my tanks night life. Very cool stuff. here are a couple of shots before I explain the weird sexual orgey I witnessed.

 

Candycane sweepers

candycanesweepers.jpg

 

Hydroids

Hydroid.jpg

 

And now for the weird sex

I was using my sons night light toy thingie to look into my tank and these little maggot things were attracted to the light. There were 2 colours; Pink/peach and blue/purple. There ended up being about 40ish around the light and they would follow it like one of those dog/cat lazer toys. Anyway, when they got to the sandbed I noticed that the blue ones would smear white goo along the glass. It was gross, looked like almost cooked runny egg whites or when a bug hits your windsheild and you have a spray of goo but it was white. And upon even closer inspection I noticed there were little dots in the goo. Then I realized... EWWW SPERM. Eggs too but EWWW. Kind of like salmon if you really think about it. But anyway here are some pics AND a video of the 2 coloured maggot things.

 

nightwtf.jpg

 

Money Shot... well not really all you can really see are the blue dot eggs under the maggot things and some film (sperm) around the eggs.

nightwtfeggs.jpg

 

Video of these weird creatures

th_DSC_6592.jpg

 

 

Ok and now a normal video of my tank. A tour basically.

th_DSC_6604.jpg

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Its only been a few days but already I am seeing some growth. My sargassum is sprouting some new leaves all over, my calpura prolifera has little leaf buds all along the stems and the unknown calcilferous macro has white tips all over like an birdsnest sps. My softies are getting pretty happy too, ive never seen them so puffed up and happy looking :)

Ive noticed some new macros too. They are hitch hikers. Theres one that looks like a fern on the end of a palm tree trunk and another that looks like cheato but its in straight stalks as if the cheato was grass.

 

I havent seen the starfish since that day but I expected that. Hopefully things keep up and stay healthy and thrive. :)

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Hey great to hear your sargassum and macros are recovering! I may get some varieties from ya eventually :). Careful with the C. prolifera that variety is known to take over tanks! Then again, you already have c. racemosa heavily embedded so it'll be interesting to see which species wins out :D.

 

Those maggot critters are weird! Never seen anything like that. Your fish don't eat them at all? Well atleast they've got interesting colors LOL.

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Yes Im glad things are recovering rather well but only time will tell. I need to do a major trim on the tank of the grape calpura to give some of the other macros a chance.

 

For sure I can send you some when there is enough :)

 

I have no idea what those maggot things are. I wish i did.

OH I also found a crab in the tank. Its teeny and I tried catching him but he ran away :( Hes nocturnal as far as I can tell and was munching on who knows what but at least it wasent my coral... yet. If i find him again hes comming out just so i can get a good look at him.

 

He almost seemed clear ish to me. But it was dark so im not sure. He also seemed hairy. hmmm

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...
drunkenmonk21
Dont think I can ship across the border and have the macro survive. But if anyone in Canada wants some Im willing to sell :)

 

Yea it sucks, you have some nice macros tank looks great!

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Took a few more shots today while my son was having a nap.

 

Aug1620115tank.jpg

 

Aug1620111macro.jpg

 

Aug1620113macro.jpg

 

Aug1620116macro.jpg

 

Aug1620117halymenia.jpg

 

Aug1620119topdown.jpg

 

Aug16201110sargassum.jpg

 

Aug16201111macro.jpg

 

Aug16201113redfeather.jpg

 

Aug16201114colourful.jpg

 

Aug16201116dragonstongue.jpg

 

Aug16201118halymenia.jpg

 

Aug16201119halmediaoptuna.jpg

 

Aug16201120mushroom.jpg

 

Aug16201121macro.jpg

 

Aug16201122sargassum.jpg

 

Aug16201123sargassum.jpg

 

Aug162011macro24.jpg

 

Aug162011calpuraprolfera25.jpg

 

Aug162011calpuraprolifera26.jpg

 

Aug162011grapecalpura28.jpg

 

Aug162011grapecalpura29.jpg

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